1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process and apparatus for protecting a computer network from viruses, and more particularly, the present invention is directed to systems and methods for providing a latest virus software to a workstation (client) upon booting up the workstation.
2. The Prior Art
Since the advent of network computing, in particular over the last several years, computers have become prone to infections by viruses. This is especially true for networked computers which often obtain the viruses from the network to which it is communication with.
Although virus software programs exist for scanning a computer to determine if the computer contains a virus, the virus software is often outdated in that it does not contain data related to the most recently discovered viruses. Thus, even if the virus software is operated prior to the computer gaining access to a computer network, it may still be contaminated and be able to spread the virus to other computers on the network.
Thus, there exists a need for a method and system for insuring that a computer includes the most recent virus software. Moreover, there also exists the need for a system and a method for insuring that a client computer has performed a local virus scan using the latest virus data prior to gaining access to a computer network.